26 Feb Obituary Hans-Ulrich Steinau
April 27, 1946 – February 26, 2025
On February 26, 2025, after a long illness, Hans-Ulrich Steinau passed away peacefully at the age of 78, surrounded by his family in Bochum, the place where he had served as the long-time director of the Department of Plastic Surgery and Severe Burns at the Bergmannsheil University Hospital.
Many students owe their own successful careers in plastic surgery to him, the pioneer of internationally recognized modern oncological plastic surgery and modern microsurgery, and mourn the loss of one of the great representatives of this field.
Hans-Ulrich Steinau was born on April 27, 1946, in Sulzbach Taunus; he studied medicine in Frankfurt am Main and received his doctorate in Heidelberg in 1972. After completing his medical assistantship at Höchst Hospital, he developed a focus on plastic-reconstructive surgery for malignant soft tissue tumors at the University Hospital Frankfurt during his general surgery training under Albrecht Enke. This was a pioneering achievement, as there was no microsurgical expertise in this field in general surgery. Hans-Ulrich Steinau acquired this expertise during numerous study visits, including in Melbourne with Prof. Bernard O’Brien, who was the first port of call for many microsurgeons from all over the world. Steinau’s network included Prof. Harry Buncke in San Francisco and Prof. Russel in Springfield, and later Elof Eriksson in Boston, Mark Schustermann in Houston, and Randy Sherman in Los Angeles. Many of his students were thus given access to research and clinical training programs at these renowned institutions. In Frankfurt, Hans-Ulrich Steinau became the contact for students and physicians who wanted to learn modern reconstructive plastic microsurgery, and with his open and engaging manner, he generously integrated all interested parties into his experimental working group.
After completing his habilitation on the topic of “Ischemia and Reperfusion in Limb Amputation,” he moved to St. Markus Hospital in Frankfurt under Prof. Gottfried Lemperle, where he acquired the specialty of plastic surgery. At the same time, he introduced reconstructive microsurgery, which was then largely unknown north of the Main River, and performed the first complex microsurgical defect reconstructions. At that time, Hans-Ulrich Steinau already practiced flat hierarchies, but his priority was the well-being of his patients.
In 1984, Hans-Ulrich Steinau moved to the Department of Plastic Surgery at the Klinikum rechts der Isar in Munich as a senior physician under the direction of Prof. Dr. Schmidt-Tintemann and Prof. Dr. Edgar Biemer, where he further developed his future main field of work, limb-preserving sarcoma surgery with functional reconstruction, to international acclaim.
Numerous students who later pursued careers in plastic surgery originated from this period. The fact that his students have held professorships and numerous chief physician positions throughout Germany impressively demonstrates Hans-Ulrich Steinau’s qualities as a surgical teacher and mentor.
In 1990, he was appointed Director of the Clinic for Plastic Surgery and Severe Burns at the Bergmannsheil University Hospital in Bochum. Among the areas of focus he established were post-traumatic and reconstructive plastic surgery. He developed his clinic into an internationally renowned surgical reference center for malignant limb tumors. He has performed more than 3,500 operations in this demanding field, representing a patient population that is unique worldwide.
He has received international guest professorships and prestigious awards, including the Dieffenbach Bust, the Zenker Prize, the Karl Schuchardt Medal, the Maliniac Lecture of the ASPS, the John Bostwick Lecture at DUKE University, and, as the first German, the George H. Monks Lecture at Memorial Sloan Kettering Center in New York. In 2011, he received the Federal Cross of Merit.
As a plastic surgeon, he was first elected President of the German Society of Surgery. In 2007, he initiated a process of addressing the fate of our surgical colleagues who had fallen victim to the criminal state system during the Nazi era.
As President of the German Plastic Surgery Association (DGPRÄC) from 2001 to 2003, a member of the Executive Board of the German Society of Surgery, its President in 2006/2007, and a Senator for Life, he helped shape the further development of the canon of surgical societies and their unification under the umbrella of the German Society of Surgery.
He was a member of EURAPS from the beginning of the nineties and contributed with many scientific presentations.
Hans-Ulrich Steinau distinguished himself professionally through his outstanding surgical skills, coupled with a tremendous overview of the technical possibilities of related surgical disciplines, and a broad knowledge of the literature. He brought these skills together in the Reference Center for Limb Sarcomas he established at Bergmannsheil, thus preserving the valuable function of their extremities and enabling countless patients to participate in life.
It was important to him to share this knowledge in professional literature, and thus, as an author and senior author, he authored 57 publications on this topic alone for Die Chirurgie (formerly Der Chirurg) and, as an advisory board member since 1992, contributed to the appropriate emphasis on topics related to plastic surgery for decades.
In June 2012, Hans-Ulrich Steinau retired from active service at the University Hospital of Bochum, where he subsequently worked for many years as a senior surgeon and senior professor at the University Hospital of Essen.
Hans-Ulrich Steinau was not only an excellent surgeon, but also a culturally well-educated and humorous person who lived his humanitarian responsibility as a citizen. For example, he and his wife Rita were involved in a program for the advancement of girls and women in India.
With Hans-Ulrich Steinau, we have lost an outstanding scientist and a gifted figure in plastic surgery, a warm friend, generous supporter, and true humanist. We will miss him deeply.
Back